Python Charts

This initial chart is a self-contained toolkit that:

• Fetches U.S. unemployment rate (UNRATE) and WTI crude oil price (DCOILWTICO) from FRED
• Stores the series in a local SQLite database (data/fred.db)
• Produces a dual-axis plot of unemployment vs. lagged oil price, with customizable lag, date range, and styling

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🚀 Quickstart

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/your-org/python_charts.git
cd python_charts

# One-command: install deps, download data, and plot
./startup.sh --offset 12 --end 2025-05-31 --extend-years 5

This will:

1. Upgrade pip & setuptools globally

2. Install required packages from requirements.txt via

   pip install --upgrade -r requirements.txt
   

3. Download UNRATE & DCOILWTICO into data/fred.db if missing

4. Generate the chart with a 12-month oil lead, extending the x-axis by 5 years

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📁 Repository Structure

python_charts/
├── data/
│   └── fred.db                            # Local FRED snapshot (SQLite)
├── scripts/
│   ├── refresh_data.py                    # Download and store FRED series
│   ├── lagged_oil_unrate_chart_styled.py  # Plotting script
│   └── pyproject.toml                     # Packaging metadata
├── Makefile                               # High-level targets (install, plot, etc.)
├── startup.sh                             # Installs deps globally, fetches data, runs commands
├── requirements.txt                       # Python dependencies
└── README.md                              # This file

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⚙️ Usage

Refresh FRED data

./startup.sh scripts/refresh_data.py

Downloads UNRATE and WTI series (from 1948 to today) into data/fred.db.

Generate the chart

# Default 18-month lag
./startup.sh

# Custom lag, date range, and extension
./startup.sh --offset 6 --start 1980-01-01 --end 2025-05-31 --extend-years 2

The plotting script validates that both series contain data for the requested period before rendering the chart.

Option	Description
--offset	Lag in months (pos = oil leads; neg = oil lags)
--start	Start date (YYYY-MM-DD)
--end	End date (YYYY-MM-DD)
--extend-years	Years to extend the x-axis beyond the end date

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📝 Details

• Data storage: data/fred.db (SQLite) holds two tables: UNRATE and DCOILWTICO.

• Plot styling:

  • Left y-axis: unemployment rate (%) from 3 to 15%, ticks every 2%.
  • Right y-axis: log scale oil price (USD), doubling ticks from $3 upward.
  • X-axis: major tick every 5 years, minor tick every year.

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📦 Dependencies

Listed in requirements.txt:

pandas>=1.5.0
pandas_datareader>=0.10.0
matplotlib>=3.5.0
lxml>=4.6.0
python-dateutil>=2.8.1

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🛡️ Troubleshooting

• ModuleNotFoundError: distutils: resolved by pip install --upgrade setuptools.
• Database not found: run ./startup.sh scripts/refresh_data.py.
• Permission errors: ensure write access to the project directory.

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📄 License

Released under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.